Chapter 10 — The Daughter Who Called Him Daddy
Chapter 10 — The Daughter Who Called Him Daddy
The word followed Diego all night.
Daddy.
It should have been the simplest word in the world.
Instead, it had become a weapon.
A promise.
And now, a warning.
Diego stood outside Valentina's bedroom, watching her sleep.
Three years.
Three years stolen from him.
Three years when another man could have been called her father.
Three years when she had learned to fall asleep without him.
He hated himself for that.
But now another question haunted him.
If Valentina wasn't the only child—
who was the other?
And why had Isabela called that child her granddaughter?
At sunrise, Diego called Sofia.
“I need you.”
She arrived within an hour.
Marisol sat across from them.
Valentina was playing quietly nearby.
Sofia looked at the child.
For a long moment, she didn't speak.
Then she smiled.
“She has your eyes.”
Diego nodded.
“She does.”
Sofia looked at Marisol.
“Did Isabela ever mention another child?”
Marisol shook her head.
“No.”
“Think carefully.”
“I've tried.”
Sofia opened a folder.
Inside were old family records.
“Your grandfather had two sons.”
Diego frowned.
“My father and Uncle Rafael.”
“Yes.”
“Rafael died before I was born.”
“That is what the family records say.”
Diego looked up.
“What do you mean?”
Sofia turned the page.
“There was a third child.”
Silence.
“A daughter.”
Diego stared.
“Who?”
Sofia answered:
“Isabela.”
He swallowed.
“My aunt.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did nobody know?”
“Because she was erased.”
Isabela had been seventeen when she disappeared from the family.
Officially, she had eloped.
Unofficially, she had been sent away.
Her father believed she knew too much.
She had discovered that her older brother was stealing from the company.
She threatened to expose him.
Instead of listening, the family buried the truth.
Isabela disappeared.
Years later, she returned under another name.
She built her own financial network.
And slowly—
she began taking control.
By the time Diego was born, Isabela already controlled several of the family's most valuable assets.
But she never returned publicly.
She preferred shadows.
“Why would she want Valentina?”
Diego asked.
Sofia looked at him.
“Because Valentina is the key to the trust.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Sofia shook her head.
“She isn't just the beneficiary.”
She opened another document.
“She is the final heir.”
Diego frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Your grandfather designed the trust so that the entire family fortune would eventually belong to a direct descendant who could prove the family had attempted to destroy its own bloodline.”
Diego stared.
“Valentina.”
“Yes.”
“Then Isabela wants her dead.”
Sofia didn't answer.
That silence was enough.
The phone rang.
Marisol answered.
Her face changed.
“Hello?”
A little girl's voice came through.
“Mommy?”
Marisol froze.
“Who is this?”
“It's me.”
Marisol's eyes widened.
“Valentina?”
“No.”
The voice giggled.
“I'm your other daughter.”
Marisol dropped the phone.
Diego grabbed it.
“Who is this?”
Silence.
Then:
“Daddy?”
Diego's heart stopped.
The call ended.
He immediately called the number back.
Disconnected.
Security traced it.
Nothing.
A burner phone.
But there was a location.
An abandoned children's hospital.
Diego drove there with Sofia.
Marisol stayed with Valentina.
The building had been closed for years.
Dust covered the corridors.
Old hospital beds stood against the walls.
Then Diego heard a sound.
A child's voice.
“Daddy?”
He followed it.
A little girl stood at the end of the hallway.
She was perhaps four years old.
Dark hair.
Brown eyes.
Holding a stuffed rabbit.
Diego stopped.
She looked at him.
Then smiled.
“You came.”
He couldn't speak.
She ran toward him.
“Daddy!”
Diego caught her instinctively.
She wrapped her arms around his neck.
His entire body went rigid.
He looked at Sofia.
She was crying.
“Who is she?”
Sofia whispered:
“Your daughter.”
Diego stared at the child.
“No.”
The girl touched his face.
“Don't be scared.”
“What's your name?”
“Lucía.”
“Who told you I'm your father?”
She pointed behind him.
A woman stood in the doorway.
Red hair.
Isabela.
Diego lowered Lucía carefully.
“You.”
Isabela smiled.
“You finally met your second daughter.”
Diego's voice trembled.
“I don't have another daughter.”
“Yes, you do.”
“How?”
She stepped closer.
“Because your father wasn't the only man who lied to you.”
Isabela revealed the truth.
Years before Diego met Marisol, he had been involved with another woman.
He had been young.
Twenty-four.
He barely remembered the relationship.
But there had been a child.
Lucía.
His father had discovered the pregnancy.
He had paid the mother to disappear.
Then he had taken the child.
Diego had never known.
But Isabela had.
She had raised Lucía in secret.
Not out of love.
Out of strategy.
Lucía was another piece on the board.
Another bloodline.
Another heir.
Diego looked at her.
“Why would you tell me now?”
“Because Valentina has changed everything.”
“What do you want?”
“Protection.”
“For Lucía?”
“For both girls.”
Diego stared.
“You kidnapped my daughter.”
“I protected her from your father.”
“You manipulated everyone.”
“Yes.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
Isabela smiled.
“But you should listen.”
She handed him a folder.
Inside was a DNA test.
The result was undeniable.
Probability of paternity: 99.99%.
Diego stared.
Lucía really was his daughter.
A daughter he never knew existed.
A child who had spent four years calling a stranger Daddy because someone had taught her the wrong name.
He looked at her.
She smiled.
“Are you my daddy now?”
Diego's eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
He knelt.
“And I'm sorry I wasn't there.”
Lucía hugged him.
“I waited.”
Those two words broke something inside him.
But then Diego noticed something.
The DNA test was dated six months earlier.
He looked at Isabela.
“You knew about her before I did.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I needed you to discover Valentina first.”
“Why?”
“Because one daughter would make you angry.”
She looked toward Lucía.
“Two daughters make you dangerous.”
Diego's expression hardened.
“What are you planning?”
Isabela smiled.
“Nothing.”
“That isn't true.”
“No.”
She looked at the two children in the photographs.
“I'm trying to save them.”
“From whom?”
“From the people who will kill them to control the trust.”
Diego's voice became cold.
“Who?”
Isabela whispered:
“Your father wasn't acting alone.”
That night, Diego brought Lucía home.
Marisol opened the door.
She saw the little girl.
Then looked at Diego.
“Who is she?”
Diego couldn't speak.
Sofia answered.
“His daughter.”
Marisol's face went pale.
“What?”
Lucía looked at her.
“Are you Mommy?”
Marisol shook her head.
“No.”
Lucía looked disappointed.
“That's okay.”
Then she smiled.
“I already have one.”
Marisol's eyes filled with tears.
She crouched beside the child.
“What's your name?”
“Lucía.”
“Are you hungry?”
Lucía nodded.
Marisol smiled.
“Come inside.”
Diego watched them disappear into the kitchen.
He expected jealousy.
Anger.
Instead, Marisol had opened her arms.
Because she understood something.
Lucía was not the enemy.
She was another child who had been robbed of her father.
Later that evening, Diego sat between both girls.
Valentina looked at Lucía.
“Are you my sister?”
Lucía nodded.
“Yes.”
Valentina smiled.
“Do you like rabbits?”
Lucía lifted hers.
“Yes.”
Valentina held up hers.
“Me too.”
The girls began playing.
Diego looked at Marisol.
She smiled through tears.
“They'll be okay.”
“I hope so.”
“They have you now.”
He took her hand.
“I won't fail them again.”
Then Sofia entered.
She was holding another file.
“Diego.”
He looked up.
“What?”
“We found the mother.”
Diego froze.
“Lucía's mother?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
Sofia placed a photograph on the table.
A young woman.
Diego recognized her immediately.
His blood ran cold.
“No.”
Marisol looked at him.
“Who is she?”
Diego whispered:
“She was at our wedding.”
Silence.
The woman in the photograph had been one of the guests.
Someone Diego had seen that morning.
Someone who had smiled at him.
Someone who had watched him marry Marisol.
Someone who knew the truth.
Sofia continued.
“She didn't disappear.”
“What happened?”
“She was forced to sign custody papers.”
“By whom?”
Sofia hesitated.
“Your father.”
Diego stared.
“Where is she now?”
Sofia looked at him.
“Dead.”
Marisol covered her mouth.
Diego closed his eyes.
Another life destroyed.
Another secret.
Another person sacrificed to protect the family empire.
Then Lucía ran into the room.
“Daddy!”
Diego opened his eyes.
She jumped into his arms.
He held her tightly.
And for the first time, the word didn't hurt.
It gave him strength.
Daddy.
He looked at Valentina.
Then at Lucía.
Two daughters.
Two stolen childhoods.
Two reasons to destroy everything his family had built on lies.
But outside the mansion, a black car stopped.
A man stepped out.
He looked toward the windows.
Then called someone.
“Both girls are together.”
A pause.
“Yes.”
May you like
He smiled.
“Now we take them both.”
